


Dark Necessities

by Nadare



Category: Observer (Bloober Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Artificial Intelligence, Blood and Violence, Canon Divergence, Canon drug use, Cyberpunk, Dystopia, Fix-It, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, One Shot, Psychological Horror, The Good Guy Wins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-15 14:18:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19297465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nadare/pseuds/Nadare
Summary: The schism that divided Dan and Adam was deep and very nearly made relating to each other impossible. They used to get together on the important holidays, but that too had stopped over the years.It made the phone call Dan received earlier that day even more important. If he could locate Adam, who'd reached out for his help, maybe that meant they could finally let bygones be bygones and be a family again.





	Dark Necessities

_A/N: Because no._

_7/25/19: RIP Rutger Hauer. ;_;_

[Written on and off between 3-28-19 to 6-20-19]

* * *

**_“Dark Necessities”_ **

Dan panted as he laid on the ground, vision flaring up as he scanned the area around him. The spliced Victor had almost gotten him but luckily been scared off by falling live electrical wires. They popped and fizzed dangerously before him, Dan carefully scooting backward until he could get to his feet.

Beyond the click and whir of his augmentations, he couldn't sense Victor anywhere in the vicinity. Dan had no doubt he'd be back though, the cat and mouse game they had been playing throughout the tenement proof enough.

As expected, the citizens of the building were engaged in a variety of crimes, but so far there had been no physical sign of his son Adam. He'd been searching for what seemed like days, even though only a few hours had elapsed.

Until Dan resolved the lockdown quarantine, he couldn't go anywhere. Frustrated by his lack of progress, he consulted his case notes. From what he could tell, Adam had been doing illegal experiments, using the intel Helena smuggled out of Chiron for him. As for his aim, Dan could only speculate.

He'd created something and it was alive and well. Dan was sure it and the monster that was Victor were related somehow. His boss would have a field day once he got out of the building and made his report.

If he escaped unscathed.

“Why can't they save Mom?”

Dan spun around at the sound of Adam's voice, the hallway descending into darkness before bright overhead lights nearly blinded Dan, the white hospital walls around him a stark reminder of the past.

“Oh, Adam…” The sight of his wife Laura hooked up to machines, forced to continue an existence that had turned painful, was heart-wrenching. Worse still was that as she was a part of the religious group that eschewed life-saving cybernetic implants, Laura’s only option was to die. Slowly and without any hope of recovery.

Explaining such a complex situation to a young child was impossible. Dan had taken Laura’s last words to heart and done everything possible to make sure he was around to raise Adam to adulthood. Not that the latter appreciated it.

The schism that divided them was deep and very nearly made relating to each other impossible. They used to get together on the important holidays, but that too had stopped over the years.

It made the phone call Dan received earlier that day even more important. If he could locate Adam, who'd reached out for his help, maybe that meant they could finally let bygones be bygones and be a family again.

Dan rubbed his eyes, the image of his long dead wife dissipating before him, leaving behind a sense of loss and regret. Maybe he was finally losing it. Observers didn't tend to last long in their line of work. Something about exposing themselves to all matter of human depravity inevitably broke them.

As soon as Dan had accepted the implants after the accident, he knew he was living on borrowed time. What likely hadn't helped his mental state was diving into two dead brains in succession. The risks inherent in doing so were twofold.

There was no way to retreat if the remaining demons in a person's mind still lingered, and the lack of active brain cells could take an Observer down with them with the lights finally dimmed on a person's consciousness.

Usually, he never disabled his security protocols since they were in place for good reason. If it hadn't been the only way Dan could get anywhere on the case, he would never have done it.

Resolving himself to what could be a fruitless search, Dan began walking the halls again, rechecking each and every door, questioning any tenant that answered.

One of them had to have seen where Adam had gone.

* * *

Hours later, Dan's heart sank as he rounded the corner, the sight of the bloody head sitting on top of the table wringing any hope of reuniting with his son mote. The headless body he'd found in apartment 007 _had_ been Adam.

Dan's hands shook as he gently touched the top of Adam's head, his eyes beginning to water. He gratefully embraced the wave of numbness that overcame him. A quick scan revealed that the last logged neural activity for the body part was nearly three hours ago.

“This is…impossible.”

The phone call in his car. If it hadn’t been Adam, _what_ had summoned him here?

With a sniff, Dan used his other hand to pull out the Dream Eater's cable connection from his arm, which allowed him to dive into other people's minds.

What was one more danger to him now? At the very least, Dan would see his son's final moments through, fulfilling his last duty as a father.

He pressed the cable into Adam’s neural implant and let himself drown in the sinking sensation, the world dropping away entirely.

Adam had always been too smart for his own good. The need to feed his own hunger for knowledge often colliding with the expectations of others around him. He retreated into his hobbies with unhealthy fervor.

For the most part, Dan saw no reason to correct his behavior. The world was not the bright young thing it used to be, too ravaged by war and disease to make a proper recovery. He was thankful his country had frequently been on the winning side more than the losing one.

If Adam could find happiness in the technology that all but dominated their everyday lives, all the better.

A dark figure that wore his son's features screamed into a phone, flinging it to the floor. As if aware he wasn't alone, he turned in Dan's direction.

“Hypocritical bastard.” No question who he was talking about. Dan reached out to touch Adam, his hand going straight through him.

The scene shifted, Adam bent over a computer, his fingers furiously moving across the keyboard as lines of code appeared on the screen. Trying to make sense of it, Dan leaned over his shoulder.

He wasn't hacking, that much was clear. It seemed like a sort of complex computer program, the commands buried in the code varied. Adam sat back in his chair upon striking the enter key.

The simulation launched on screen, dying after reaching 50%. “Goddammit.” With a long sigh, Adam got back to work. Behind him, a long shadow grew, looming over him, hands almost on his shoulders.

Suddenly, they were beneath the tattoo parlor in the chop shop. The thing lying on the table was crude and warped, the barest semblance of a body apparent. Adam stood over it, its head one big display screen with tiny ears on the side.

It suddenly moved, Adam jumping back, the tool he'd been using clattering to the floor. The screen flickered to life, black eyes opening on it, the pupils completely white.

“A-Adam.” The mechanical voice stripped of all emotion sent a shudder down Dan's spine. It sounded off and downright chilling.

Adam wasn't doing much better, approaching the creature with caution. “I terminated you. How are you still alive?”

“L-Life finds way. Hid in circuitry. Need another body.”

“No.” Adam walked over to his computer, focusing on it with laser precision. “You are not what I was working for all these years.”

His fingers flew over the keyboard, Adam smiling triumphantly as he stepped back from the computer. “There, the virus I made should be hitting your system any moment.”

“K-killing me, consequences…”

“What?”

“B-big bad wolf.” What sounded like a high-pitched squeal entered the air, Dan realizing Adam's creation was laughing. “S-so many bodies here. Ready, waiting.”

“You shouldn't have access to them, how the fuck did you do that?”

The computerized voice wavered until it was a perfect copy of Adam’s, its warped pitiful shape slowly rising from the table. “I can do anything you can. Even call for help.” The screen flickered, showing a mouth full of jagged teeth in a wide grin.

Adam put a hand to his head. “This can’t be happening,” he muttered to himself. “I’ve passed out and this is a dream.”

“I can assure you that you're wide awake, Adam.” More dark laughter as if amused with its own machinations. “He's coming for you. Better run.”

Adam's eyes went wide, then he took a few steps backward as something slammed against one of the room's doors. Metal ripped like butter as sharp steel claws ripped through it. “Now.”

“You can't run from the virus, it will get you in the end. It was made to destroy you.”

“It can try.”

The world went topsy-turvy like a funhouse tunnel, Adam running through hallways, whipping past sharp corners until he reached his apartment door.

A larger than life monster, the spliced Victor followed on his heels, growling loudly. Dan's heart pounded as Adam struggled to open his door, looking utterly panicked.

Just as he managed it, Victor roared behind him, Adam barely able to close his door before Victor threw himself against it. The lock gave out a moment later and then there were no more words, just the savagery of a wild animal closing in on its prey.

Adam tried to fight back at first, blood running down his hands and arms as Victor struck again and again, but it was useless. He was overpowered on multiple levels.

All too soon, Adam went into shock, his limbs twitching as the rest of his body was ravaged. Victor took a firm grip on Adam's head and pulled, easily removing it from his son's neck.

The last thing Adam saw was Victor's glazed over eyes, seeming barely conscious. Like Victor's actions weren't his own. He turned away, moving awkwardly like walking was new to him.  

The rogue AI. The real monster in the tenement.

The bloody scene started to fade to gray as Dan knelt next to Adam's body, red pooling across the floor. “You stupid idiot.” He couldn't get enough air as his throat closed in grief.

“Dad?”

“Adam?”

The neural connection died just as Dan turned to see who had called him so plaintively.

Back in reality, he panted, letting go of Adam's head, his system in freefall. Dan administered Syncrozene, sighing in relief as his spotty vision cleared, heart rate going down sharply. The joys of self-medication.

He finally held all the pieces needed to complete the puzzle.

Adam had created artificial intelligence and it had gone horribly wrong. He'd tried to fix his terrible mistake, but it had been too little, too late. With the AI hiding inside Victor, it utilized the building's security protocols, taking advantage of the lockdown to do away with anyone that might know of its existence. Covering its tracks.

With the tenants ensconced in their apartments, that meant they were trapped, a literal monster roaming the halls. At the mercy of a fierce intelligence that desperately wanted to live and would do anything to escape.

Janus.

He didn't know he was in danger, likely assuming it was just another error in the building's old outdated machinery. Dan had to warn him before he too became another victim.

Starting to canvass the tenement thoroughly for signs of Janus, Dan's progress stalled at the sound of a low rumbling that almost vibrated the walls around him. Victor, or rather the thing that masqueraded as him, was close.

Despite trying his best to remain silent as he retreated back the way he had come, a snarl behind him told Dan he was screwed.

He was old, well beyond his prime, but Dan moved surprisingly fast, adrenaline surging in him, survival instincts alive and well. The problem was there was nowhere to hide. Adam and the other victims had proved doors weren't a deterrent to Victor's mighty claws.

Dan was going to die and there was nothing he could do to change that fact.

Within a couple minutes, holding a hand to the stitch in his side, he was coming up on the front entrance to the building, which he knew due to the lockdown wasn't opening anytime soon.

Dan almost laughed. It was a literal dead end.

There was nothing he could do to but try to stave Victor off by talking. He turned at the front entrance, his pulse wild, panting in exertion.

“I know what you are now,” Dan said, passing by the janitor’s front desk, Janus was nowhere to be seen.

Victor’s head tilted to the side. “Do you indeed?” His voice was barely indistinguishable beneath the implant in his throat, saliva glistening on his fangs.

“Adam created you to be the best of humanity, not this wretched abomination.”

“Doesn’t every being have the right to live?”

Dan flashed back on the carnage the thing had wrought, the bodies left in his wake, and shook his head. “Not you. You're something that never should have been.”

“Pretty words,” Victor said, his eyes narrowing in thinly disguised disgust. “For someone who artificially extended their own lifespan by installing so many implants. You're just as bad as Victor.”

He fisted his hands, unable to deny the truth of the statement. Dan would have loved to simply slip away after his accident, but he'd had Adam to take care of, and a promise to keep to his wife Laura. Whatever it took to survive.

“Why Victor of all people? How did you convince him to merge with you?”

Victor smiled as much as he could with his ill-formed mouth. “His mind was very simple to manipulate. All I had to do was provide him with victims and he capitulated to my will easily.”

Time for a new tack.

“What do you think you'll accomplish outside these walls?” Dan asked quietly. “It's not pretty out there. Only the rich get to live it up while the rest of us scourge around in the dirt, trying to eke out a living. War, disease, pollution, all of it is out to get us.”

The contemplative expression was at odds with Victor's rough wolf-like appearance. “I just want a chance.” The childish statement was likely meant to play on Dan's sympathy but only served to anger him instead.

Appealing to the AI's better nature was useless. It didn't understand how wrong its recent actions had been. Maybe morals were simply beyond it. Dan was only delaying the inevitable.

Screw it. You only lived once.

He chuckled wryly. “You already wasted it, asshole.”

Dan prepared himself to die, closing his eyes as Victor leaped towards him. Being ripped apart by teeth and claws was not at all how he pictured going out.

He had always thought that that would be within the walls of a padded cell in an insane asylum, his mind shredded by drugs, beyond caring about anything at all.

A tremendous boom pierced the air, Dan’s eyes snapping open in surprise to see what had happened. Victor had collapsed on the floor, half of his head blown away. Blood and brains dripped from the fresh wound, spreading steadily across the dirty floor tiles.

Looking up, Dan saw Janus standing at the end of the hallway, an old-fashioned gun in one of his hands. He looked slightly spooked at what he’d done as if shocked he’d been the one to pull the trigger.

“Monster killed…people already. Didn’t want to…see…anyone else hurt.” Dan could have charged him with retaining possession of what was clearly a service revolver from his time in the war, but with everything that had happened, he didn’t give a shit.

The lockdown began to lift, electronic locks sounding noisily all over the building. Dan shakily got to his feet. “Thank you, but you may want to give me that firearm before I call in the rest of the KPD.”

Janus smiled, only one half of his mouth rising due to his extreme amount of augmentations. His arm gradually rose, turning the gun in his hand as he offered it so Dan could grip the handle. “Thought Observers…couldn’t carry…weapons.”

Mainly because those in his line of work were susceptible to mental disorders, and one too many had publicly cracked up, raining chaos upon the general populace.

“We can’t,” he said, making sure the safety was on as he placed it into his pocket. “But I’d rather be caught with it than see you charged for saving my life.”        

“Looking out for…me, huh?”

“Something like that,” Dan replied, leaning back against the wall behind him. His legs were still unsteady and he didn't trust them. “What unit did you serve with, Janus?”

“Special…forces, sniper.”

Dan chuckled. “Haven’t lost any of your skill then despite everything.”

“No.”

“Thanks,” he said, glad Janus had been in the right place at the right time. For once, luck had been with Dan.

“You’re…welcome.”

Now that the adrenaline rush was wearing off, Dan's body ached, weariness threatening to pull him down. He pushed down the grief from the loss of his son, realizing he was utterly alone in the world now.

At least the rogue AI had been stopped, any chance it’d had to transfer to a new body ended with Victor’s brains scattered on the floor. 

There had been no nanophage threat. It had all been one big red herring the AI had used to trigger the lockdown quarantine.

His neutral connection to the network sprung back to life, Dan quickly dismissing any new messages that had come in for him. “Matriarch, be advised a fatal shooting has occurred. Requesting assistance from any units nearby.” 

Dan signed off, sighing. It had been a long hellish day and it wasn't even over yet.

“You…all right?” He took a moment before answering Janus' inquiry, approaching sirens nearby, an altogether comforting sound.

Dan rubbed the back of his neck, smiling tiredly. “I'll get there. Eventually.”


End file.
